Re: "I've tried it" doesn't instill interest

On Friday, Jan 10, 2003, at 16:33 America/Detroit, J. B. Rainsberger 
wrote:

> So said  Bill Tozier  on  2003-01-10 --------------------
>> Are you sure you've identified the criteria by which your
>> audience is gaging success?
>
> Obviously not. That's ridiculously complex. No one could do it, so why 
> would I try?

Good point. Let's take a different tack for a moment.

Recall that we're chatting about the problem: Why do people who are 
presented with evidence of a better way of doing their work choose not 
to do their work that way?

Modern economic theory [caveat lector] would argue that people 
adopt/buy into something when the perceived benefits outweigh the 
perceived costs, factoring in their risk aversion. The approach of 
explaining, in exhaustive detail, how many vast benefits XP will bring 
to somebody sometimes doesn't work. Is it because (as Ron ((if I parsed 
the thread right)) pointed out) the listener doesn't *get* what the 
seller is trying to communicate, or that the seller is perceived as an 
a[5|6]e? Or is it perhaps that the seller has not addressed some 
aspects of cost of change that the listener sees?

Or we could try another tack: There are a lot of people who adopt 
technologies/products/innovations late, not early (which is why they're 
called "late majority" adopters). Frankly it doesn't matter what the 
proposal is, or their reasons are, they just aren't going to do 
anything right away. Given that you want to get practical about selling 
XP, what is the proper response when you have found you're selling to 
somebody who just isn't going to try it? Try again? Take it personally?

>> In other words, you and your audience may have the same goals, but
>> different values.
>
> Indeed. I want to be honest.

Yes. Me too. But there are other values in play as well. I'm not 
talking about XP's Values, I'm talking about personal values: the 
subjective criteria upon which one judges the usefulness of a proposal. 
As you say, you can't know the other person's (and might not know 
yours).
-----
Bill Tozier
[email protected]

"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting 
than the question of whether a submarine can swim."
   -- E. W. Dijkstra


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